Editing Cuman language

{{Short description|Extinct West Kipchak Turkic language}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Refimprove|date=November 2022}}
{{More footnotes|date=November 2022}}}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Cuman
| altname          = Kuman, Kipchak, Polovcian<ref>{{cite web|url=http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/LLDescription.cfm?code=qwm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923184851/http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/LLDescription.cfm?code=qwm|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 September 2008|title=The Kuman Language|publisher=[[Linguist List|LINGUIST List]]|access-date=17 January 2025}}</ref>
| states           = [[Cumania|Cuman–Kipchak Confederation]], [[Golden Horde]]
| region           = [[Cumania]]
| ethnicity        = [[Cumans]], [[Kipchaks]], [[Tatars]]
| extinct          = In [[Kunság]]: 1770, with the death of [[:fr:István Varró|István Varró]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Melnyk |first=Mykola |date=2022 |title=Byzantium and the Pechenegs |quote=István Varró, a member of the Jász-Cuman mission to the empress of Austria Maria Theresa and the known last speaker of the Cuman language, died in 1770.}}</ref>
|speakers2 = Other regions: evolved into Kipchak-Cuman languages
| familycolor      = Altaic
| fam1             = [[Turkic languages|Turkic]]
| fam2             = [[Common Turkic languages|Common Turkic]]
| fam3             = [[Kipchak languages|Kipchak]]
| fam4             = [[Kipchak languages|Kipchak–Cuman]]<ref>[https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/cuma1241 Glottolog entry for Cuman]</ref>
| script           = [[Arabic script|Arabic]], [[Latin script|Latin]]
| iso3             = qwm
| linglist         = qwm
| glotto           = cuma1241
| glottorefname    = Cuman
| nativename       = {{lang|qwm|Tatar til}}
| imagecaption     = [[Codex Cumanicus]], 14th century
| image            = Codex Cumanicus 001.jpg
| map              = File:Cumania_(1200)_eng.png
| mapcaption       = Map of territory occupied by the Cumans around 1200
}}

'''Cuman''' or '''Kuman''' (also called '''Kipchak''', '''Qypchaq''' or '''Polovtsian''', self referred to as '''Tatar''' ({{lang|qwm|tatar til}}) in [[Codex Cumanicus]])<ref>{{cite book|title=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans|page=406|author=Florin Curta|year=2007}}</ref> was a [[Kipchak languages|West Kipchak]] [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] spoken by the [[Cumans]] (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and [[Kipchaks]]; the language was similar to today's various languages of the West Kipchak branch. Cuman is documented in medieval works, including the Codex Cumanicus, and in early modern manuscripts, like the notebook of Benedictine monk Johannes ex Grafing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Knauer |first1=Georg Nicholaus |title=The Earliest Vocabulary of Romani Words (c. 1515) in the Collectanea of Johannes ex Grafing, a student of Johannes Reuchlin and Conrad Celtis |journal=[[Romani Studies (journal)|Romani Studies]] |date=2010 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.3828/rs.2010.1|s2cid=170292032 }}</ref> It was a literary language in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] that left a rich literary inheritance. The language became the main language ([[lingua franca]]) of the [[Golden Horde]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://old.unesco.kz/qypchaq/Memorials-En.htm|title=Turkic written memorials|website=Old.unesco.kz|access-date=27 July 2019}}</ref>

==History==
The Cumans were nomadic people who lived on the steppes of [[Eastern Europe]], north of the [[Black Sea]], before the [[Golden Horde]]. Many Turkic peoples including the [[Crimean Tatars]], [[Nogais]], [[Karachays]], [[Kumyks]], [[Crimean Karaites]], [[Krymchaks]] and [[Balkars]], [[Manavs]] are descended from the Cumans. Today, the speakers of these various languages belonging to the [[Kipchak languages|Kipchak]] branch speak variations closely related to the Cuman language.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yilmaz |first=Adil |date=2018 |title=Bızans'in Anadolu'ya Yerleştırdığı Son Türkler |trans-title=The Last Turks Settled in Anatolia by Byzantium |url=https://www.academia.edu/36801899 |journal=Eski̇çağ Araştirmalari Dergi̇si̇ |language=tr |issue=3 |pages=29–32 |trans-journal=Journal of Ancient Researches}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=YALAKOVA'DAN YALOVA'YA Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık Anısına Yalova Tarihi Araştırmaları |url=http://www.yalovaozelidare.gov.tr/kurumlar/yalovaozelidare.gov.tr/Tasarim/yayinlarimiz/6_Yalakova_dan-Yalova_ya-Kitap-Metni.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Anadolu'ya yerleştirilen Kumanlar (Manavlar) |url=http://m.belediyehaberleri.com.tr/yazarlar/ekrem-hayri-peker/anadoluya-yerlestirilen-kumanlar-manavlar/369#:~:text=Kumanlar%C4%B1n%20di%C4%9Fer%20ad%C4%B1%20K%C4%B1p%C3%A7ak't%C4%B1r,Anadolu'ya%20yerle%C5%9Ftirildikleri%20de%20yazmaktad%C4%B1r.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Acar |first=Kenan |title=GAGAVUZ TÜRKÇESİ İLE KOCAELİ YERLİ (MANAV) AĞIZLARI ARASINDAKİ PARALELLİKLER, 2022, VI. Uluslararası Türklerin Dünyası Sosyal Bilimler Sempozyumu, PARALLELS BETWEEN GAGAVUZ TURKISH AND KOCAELİ NATİVE TURK (MANAV) DİALECTS, Kenan Acar, 2022, VI. International Turkish World Social Sciences Symposium |work=VI. Uluslararası Türklerin Dünyası Sosyal Bilimler Sempozyumu |date=January 2022 |url=https://academia.edu/resource/work/90576741}}</ref>

The literary Cuman language became extinct in the early 18th century in the region of [[Kunság|Cumania]] in [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], which was its last stronghold. Tradition holds that the last speaker of the Cuman language in Hungary was István Varró, a resident of [[Karcag]] (Hungary) who died in 1770. The Cuman language in Crimea, however, managed to survive. The Cuman language is considered the direct ancestor of the current [[Crimean Tatar language|language of the Crimean Tatars]] with possible incorporations of the other languages in the region, like [[Crimean Gothic]].<ref>István Vásáry (2005) Cumans and Tatars, Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>Stearns(1979:39–40).</ref><ref>"Crimean Tatar proper, called the 'central dialect', belonged to the West Kipchak subbranch as a descendant of Kuman." (Lars Johanson, Turkic, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pg. 62)</ref>

By a preponderance Cumanian population of the Crimea acquired the name "Tatars", embraced [[Islam]], and retained the Quman-Qipchaq Turkic language, and the process of consolidating the multi-ethnic conglomerate of the Peninsula began, which has led to the emergence of the Crimean Tatar people.<ref name="Vozgrin2">Vozgrin, Valery [http://kitap.net.ru/vozgrin1.php "Historical fate of the Crimean Tatars"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711080144/http://tavrika.by.ru/books/vozgrin_ists/html/index.htm|date=11 July 2006}}</ref>

The Cuman-Kipchaks had an important role in the history of [[Anatolia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Hungary]], [[Romania]] (see, for example, the [[House of Basarab|Basarab dynasty]]), [[Moldavia]], [[Bessarabia]] and [[Bulgaria]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/bahasantara/sun-language-theory-part-2-the-steppes-of-tartary-tatar-bashkir-kazakh-kyrgyz-acfe3793938b|title=Sun Language Theory, Part 2: The Steppes of Tartary (Tatar, Bashkir, Kazakh, Kyrgyz)|last=Sun|first=Kevin|date=2019-04-07|website=Medium|language=en|access-date=2019-09-17}}</ref><ref name="Ayönü">{{cite journal |last=Ayönü |first=Yusuf |date=August 2012 |title=Bati Anadolu'dakı Türk Yayilișina Karși Bızans İmparatorluğu'nun Kuman-Alan Topluluklarini Balkanlardan Anadolu'ya Nakletmesi |trans-title=The Transfer of Cumans and Alans from Balkans to Anatolia by Byzantine Empire against the Turkish Expansion in the Western Anatolia |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1267764 |journal=Belleten |language=tr |publisher=Turkish Historical Society |volume=76 |issue=276 |pages=403–418 |doi=10.37879/belleten.2012.403 |s2cid=245309166 |access-date=October 12, 2022|doi-access=free }} [https://belleten.gov.tr/ozet/2688/eng DOI: English version]</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Rustam M. Shukurov |title=Latent Turkification of Byzantium (ca. 1071–1461) |url=https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/fellows/shukurov-2004-2005 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite journal |author=Dimitri Korobeinikov |date=2015 |title=The Cumans in Paphlagonia |url=https://www.academia.edu/22592533 |journal=Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi |issue=18 |pages=29–44}}</ref>

[[Vasily Radlov|Radlov]] believed that among the current languages Cuman is closest to the [[Mishar Tatar dialect|Mishar dialect]] of the [[Tatar language]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Публикация ННР О языке куманов: По поводу издания куманского словаря |url=http://books.e-heritage.ru/book/10085556 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=books.e-heritage.ru}}</ref>

==Sample==
From the book known as the ''[[Codex Cumanicus]]'', a Cuman Kipchak Turkic [[Pater Noster]] (transcribed in the [[Common Turkic Alphabet]]):

{{quote|{{lang|qwm|Atamız kim köktesiñ. Alğışlı bolsun seniñ atıñ, kelsin seniñ xanlığıñ, bolsun seniñ tilemekiñ – neçik kim kökte, alay [da] yerde. Kündeki ötmegimizni bizge bugün bergil. Dağı yazuqlarımıznı bizge boşatqıl – neçik biz boşatırbız bizge yaman etkenlerge. Dağı yekniñ sınamaqına bizni quurmağıl. Basa barça yamandan bizni qutxarğıl. Amen!}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/codexcumanicusbi00kuunuoft|title=Codex cumanicus, Bibliothecae ad templum divi Marci Venetiarum primum ex integro editit prolegomenis notis et compluribus glossariis instruxit comes Géza Kuun| place= Budapest |year= 1880| publisher= XLIX | last1= Kuun| last2= Géza |last3= Unknown | display-authors= 2 |via= Archive.org |access-date=August 11, 2016}}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Mamluk-Kipchak]]
* [[Armeno-Kipchak]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Güner, Galip  (2013), Kıpçak Türkçesi Grameri, Kesit Press, İstanbul.
* Mustafa Argunşah, Galip Güner (2015), Codex Cumanicus, Kesit Yayınları, İstanbul.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121016110753/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-cuman.html Texts in Ukrainian Cuman]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231448/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-cuman-hungary.html Lord's Prayer in Hungarian Cuman]
* [http://www.unesco.kz/qypchaq/Memorials-En.htm Kipchak Middle Age literature]

{{Turkic languages}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 18th century]]
[[Category:Medieval languages]]
[[Category:Cuman language]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Europe]]